Programme includes the world premiere of the Symphonic Suite from Riverdance, Caracena from The Seville Suite, The Currach and Evening Céilí from Inishlacken, An ChistinfromCarna, Jazzical Cyclebike, Seabird, Flying Blind,Lift the Wings, Shivnaand The Heart’s Cry

Following the sell-out success of A Celebration of Bill Whelan in 2010, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra returns with what is sure to be another spectacular collaboration with Grammy Award-winning composer Bill Whelan.

The RTÉ CO gave the electrifying first performance of Riverdance as the interval act in the 1994 Eurovision and went on to record the phenomenally successful CD of the entire show. Now, as part of a wide-ranging programme of his music, the orchestra has the honour of giving the world premiere of Bill’s Symphonic Suite from Riverdance. This promises to be not only a highlight of the evening’s celebration but a highlight of Irish musical life this year.

Bill Whelan writes: ‘The idea for a Riverdance Symphonic Suite has been on my radar for some time. Over the years I have often had requests from foreign orchestras for a full-length concert piece containing the music from the show. As my original score incorporated traditional instruments, it was not always easy to assemble the various ethnic elements for a concert in say, Japan. So what I have done with this new score is to present all the themes fromRiverdance in a way that is playable by a full symphony orchestra anywhere in the world, without the traditional musicians. There were two principal challenges – the first was to arrange the themes and melodies as a colourful and dynamic concert piece. The second was to choose the instruments from within the orchestra to appropriately replace the original ethnic instruments and voices. As this will be its first performance, I look forward with anticipation as this augmented RTÉ CO under David Brophy brings the work of the last few years to life.’